Articles

The dearth of technology and communication due to my broken cell phone continues on my farm. The few phone calls that I have answered were usually met with much static and frustration. There is some good news about not using the phone; I have not been told that my car’s Read more

New technology is a blessing and a curse. A recent farm magazine cover showed the multiple faces of Ag technology and included an in-depth article about the future implications of new technology in agriculture. I certainly was not pictured or quoted in the article. Have you ever heard the phrase, Read more

Do you know how much diesel fuel costs? Do you know how much carbon/carbon dioxide an old diesel engine produces per hour? What farm implement was John Deere’s first claim to fame? Do you remember the iconic antilittering commercial featuring Iron Eyes Cody as an American Indian? Wow, this is Read more

Did you eat yams for Thanksgiving? Did they give you gas? Are you now expecting a fart joke in this week’s article? Do I now have a captive audience? Before the ink could dry on the article I wrote last week, I covered most of the windows in my house Read more

Do you think you could live a life similar to the life your grandparents, great grandparents, or great-great grandparents lived? Imagine doing some of the same things they did in the 1800’s or early 1900’s. Have I gone crazy? That is a rhetorical question. Did you have any trouble buying Read more

Is it good to keep old things around? How about old people? Can old and well-worn items still be useful? Before the hate mail starts, let me state that I am referring to myself as the “old people.” In this weekly column several years ago, I wrote about the frustration Read more

My dad loved driving tractors and other machinery, especially those used for the mechanical harvest of crops. Being born in 1926, he grew up during a time when many farms transitioned from manual labor of men and horses to machines. In his youth it was not uncommon for the crops Read more

It was the Sunday before Halloween and thus began my nightmare. You might remember that it started raining shortly after daybreak and it rained all day, all night, and into the morning the next day. Everyone received 3 plus inches of rain with some reports of 4-5 inches. The rain Read more

It can be scary out there sometimes. I am not talking about the ghosts and goblins of Halloween. I am talking about how events can unfold which are probably mere coincidences yet we can easily put a different spin on them if we want to. In addition to our documented Read more

This week’s article will continue the fall harvest theme. Would you bend over to pick up a penny? How about 2 or 3 pennies? If so, would you do it thousands of times? Many soybean fields were harvested this year in mid to late September, several weeks earlier than usual. Read more